"Don't be afraid to strive and sweat and pray
and fail and strive and pray some more for the
desires of your heart. Because my books and
this site are proof that dreams can come true.
That with God all things are possible."

Mary Connealy is the bestselling author of romantic comedy with cowboys. She is a Carol Award winner and a Rita and Christy and IRCC Award Finalist.

She is the author of The Trouble in Texas series, Swept Away, Fired Up and Stuck Together, The Kincaid Brides Series, Out of Control, In Too Deep and Over the Edge.The Sophie's Daughters Series, Doctor in Petticoats, a Rita Award finalist, Wrangler in Petticoats and Sharpshooter in Petticoats. These three books are now contained in the single volume Sophie's Daughters Trilogy.The Montana Marriages Series, Montana Rose, The Husband Tree and Wildflower Bride. Montana Rose was a Carol Award Finalist. These three books are now available in the single volume Montana Marriages Trilogy. The Wild West Wedding series Cowboy Christmas—the 2010 Carol Award for Best Long Historical Romance, and an Inspirational Readers Choice Contest Finalist, and In Too Deep. The Lassoed in Texas Series, Petticoat Ranch, Calico Canyon and Gingham Mountain. Petticoat Ranch was a Carol Award Finalist. Calico Canyon was a Christy Award Finalist and a Carol Award Finalist. These three books are now contained in one large volume called Lassoed in Texas Trilogy.
She is also the author of; Black Hills Blessing, a 3-in-1 collection of sweet contemporary romances.
She is one of the four authors contributing to Alaska Brides Collection
with her Carol Award Winning historical romance Golden Days along with Tracie Peterson,
Cathy Marie Hake and Kathleen Y'Barbo.
She had published two ebook Christmas novella collections. A Home for Christmas with Robin Lee Hatcher
And Candlelight Christmas with Linda Goodnight
And with a pseudonym she has published the romantic thriller Ten Plagues and she has republished three out of print books Bury the Lead, Fright at the Museum and Trial and Terror, three lighthearted cozy mysteries formerly published as the Nosy in Nebraska seriesunder the titles Of Mice…and Murder, Pride and Pestilence and The Miceman Cometh.

I wrote for ten years before I got my first book published. When I did get my first contract I had twenty finished books on my computer at home. I had just enough encouragement through those ten long years to keep me going.

I was a stay-at-home mom when I started but during those years my children grew up and I got a job. I've worked forty hours a week, teaching GED, for the last five years.

Somewhere in about the third year of my writing, I sent a manuscript into Silhouette Romance and they requested a full manuscript. From the time I sent the three chapters in, then their request for a whole manuscript, then finally their rejection, it took a full year. So I'm starting to see just how slow the publishing world is. I sent that book in as a result of placing third in a writer's contest and I did pretty well in them. I learned a lot from the critiques. Also when I'd final, I got judged by editors and agents.
There came a time when I expected to final in any contest I entered. The two years before I got published I was a finalist in eleven contests with five different books. And all the while I'm entering these contests, I kept writing.

I discovered ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) and entered my manuscript Petticoat Ranch in their unpublished contest. I was a double finalist in 2004, another book of mine, Montana Rose, was in the running, too. (Montana Rose released in July).

I won The Noble Theme contest and got a lot of requests to send in my book. I also got a really simple request from Cathy Marie Hake. She asked me to send her my first three chapters. Cathy read what I sent her and said she thought I was 'ready'. By this time, I had so many rejections I had a hide like a rhino, so submitting work didn't even phase me. Okay, well maybe I crawled under my computer desk and sucked my thumb for a day or two every time I got one but other than that I was fine.
Just before the next year's conference, Cathy Marie Hake told me she wanted to pitch my name to write a book as part of a three book series set in historical Alaska.

Every year at the conference the acquiring editor for Heartsong Presents gives a contract to an unpublished author. I was so hopeful! I knew there was a chance it could be me. The Heartsong editor, Tracie Peterson, said someone else's name, so okay, I've been rejected before. I kind of expect it. And then she said, 'And this year we're giving two contracts to first time authors. We're offering a contract to Mary Connealy. I get chills saying that! It was a wonderful, thrilling shocking moment. I had to go up and get the contract, in front of 350 other writers, all clapping. A great, great moment in my life.